


I See the Real You

by tillthestarsevaporate



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst, AvaLance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-13 21:40:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14121393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tillthestarsevaporate/pseuds/tillthestarsevaporate
Summary: “I don't understand. This can't be happening,” Ava is drowning in confusion, “You're saying I'm one of them?” she points to the people – the clones – that look exactly like her.A rewrite of that scene with a different end, if you know what I mean. A 3x16 (I, Ava) one-shot.





	I See the Real You

**Author's Note:**

> “I'll pull you away from sorrow  
> I see the real you  
> Even if you don't  
> I do  
> ...  
> I need you to know that it's all right  
> I see the real you  
> Even if you don't   
> I do.”  
> -Three Days Grace (The Real You). 
> 
> PS. I was listening to the Once Upon a Time soundtrack while writing this. The track “True Love” goes really well with the general mood of this fic, if you want to listen to it as you read. 
> 
>  
> 
>  

Ava is in absolute shock.

“I’m a… I’m a clone? From the future? What’re you…” She abandons all ties to logic as she pulls Ray by the collar and shouts, “I’m a future clone thing?”

“Ava, shhh,” she barely registers Sara’s voice, her hand pulling Ava away from Ray.

She is in a daze.

“It's okay, Director Sharpe. Gary will take care of everything,” she hears Gary, although she is confused as to why he’s referring to himself in the third person. She’s not that surprised though. Gary points a flash gun at her.

“No!” she says quickly, forcefully.

“She deserves to know,” Sara says, almost at the same time.

“I don’t understand. This can’t be happening,” Ava is drowning in confusion, “You’re saying I’m one of them?” she points to the people – the _clones_ – that look exactly like her. She honestly doesn’t know why she’s not more shocked than she is. Not only do these “things” look identical to her, but also they exist. Clones exist.

“Hey, look, this might be where you're from, but it is not who you are,” she hears Sara’s voice from behind her. She knows Sara is trying to comfort her for everyone’s sake. If Ava stays this agitated, she will fairly likely spiral out of control. And very soon.

Sara knows her all too well.

“Then who the hell am I?”

Sara moves to look Ava in the eye, “You are the same person that you have always been. You are the woman who has worked her way to the top to becoming the head of the Time Bureau. You are extraordinary.” Sara’s gaze is so intense. So very intense.

“No,” she interrupts, “My… my life, my memories, they’re all manufactured. They’re… they’re not real. I’m not even real.”

Sara fiercely holds Ava’s arms, firmly standing her ground.

“Ava, you _are_ real. You are as real as I feel about you.”

_You are as real as I feel about you…_

“How can you even say that when I’m… I’m just like one of those things?” Ava’s voice is hoarse. She feels Sara’s arms letting go.

Does Sara really mean all those things she’s saying? How can she? She broke up with her even without knowing who she really is, and now that she does, what makes Ava think that things are going to get any better between them?

How can Ava even know that these thoughts she’s having right now are real at all?

_You are as real as I feel about you…_

_You are as real as I feel about you…_

She repeats Sara’s words in her mind, trying to draw strength from them. She recites the words like a prayer, clawing at the wreckage that is her life. A manufactured life. A fake existence. A groundbreakingly awful lie.

_It’s astounding how one truth can completely flip my world off its axis…_

 “Because I know you. And I know that you are a badass. And you are different.” Sara is staring at Ava so hard she’s finding it difficult to respond. Difficult to breathe. Almost impossible to breathe, even with her mouth wide-open in astonishment, and Ava wonders what happened to all the air in the room.

_You are as real as I feel about you…_

“You really mean that?” Ava whispers.

She sees Sara’s hand moving towards her, she feels it on her heart. Sara is trying to calm her down, she can tell. She thinks it’s working, as her head starts clearing a bit.

Ava’s heart starts beating faster for an entirely different reason.

Sara’s hand on her chest is a reminder that she’s real. It isn’t lost on her that this is the same gesture Ava usually uses to soothe Sara. Ava knows Sara is making a point, she knew it would work. She knew that a reminder of what they have will help ground Ava to her reality, fake as it may be.

_You are as real as I feel about you…_

Sara is still staring, and Ava can’t pull her eyes away from her. Can’t stop her fumbling hands, her treacherous head, her whole body. She leans in tentatively, giving Sara a chance to take back what she said.

Sara is still staring, no sign of movement. Only now her eyes are staring at Ava’s lips.

As Ava closes her eyes, she hears her name, a pleading whisper that gives her the last ounce of confidence she needs. And as her lips brush Sara’s in a slow caress, she believes.

She believes Sara was telling the truth, because how can a mindless drone experience something this strong?

_Is this feeling even real?_

“Stay here, Ava. Stay _with_ me,” Sara whispers as though she’s read Ava’s mind. She whispers through Ava’s lips as she returns the kiss. So tender. So gentle.

So utterly beautiful.

_You are as real as I feel about you…_

For now, Ava lets her heart convince her of what her mind couldn’t. For now, she lets her mind focus only on Sara’s warm lips comforting her.

For now, Ava believes.

 

\----

 

“Ehm, guys?” Ray’s voice grabs Ava’s attention as she feels Sara’s soft lips parting from hers.

It feels as though that kiss lasted hours, but Ava knows it had been only a few seconds, a minute at most. She also knows they still need to get out of whatever this place is.

Sara breaks the silence first as she snaps back to attention.

“And now that we both know that, I need you to act exactly like one of those clones if we want to get out of here.”

Sara Lance. Back to Captain mode. Back to her.

And as the group forms an escape plan, and despite the messy situation they need to get themselves out of, Ava smiles for the first time that day.

Even though what she remembers of her life before the Bureau was not real, this moment is. Sara is.

Ava has finally found something, someone, worth living for. And she isn’t going to waste another minute of her life without her. Without Sara.

 

 

 


End file.
